Technology Advancement
SAN FRANCISCO:When you reprocess a plastic bottle, it doesn’t unavoidably turn out to be another plastic bottle.SAN FRANCISCO — When you reprocess a plastic bottle, it doesn’t unavoidably turn out to be another plastic bottle.
For the reason that of boundaries in recycling technology, a widespread type of plastic used in water bottles and food containers weakens so much when it’s recycled that it can’t be used again for the same purpose. Some miniature amount of the plastic might make it into an additional bottle, but more often than not, it as an alternative becomes imitation carpet or wear and can’t easily be recycled a second time. So when those products are used up, they end up in landfills.
Researchers from IBM Corp. and Stanford University believe they have developed a way to significantly improve the quality of recycled plastic and strip away those limitations.
A new recycling method the researchers announced this week involves a way to break the plastic down so that it can be reused again and again in the same form. It is an development that could conspiracy potion companies and help cut the ecological damage in making plastic from scrape.
The modernism is a new relatives of catalysts that can reduce polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic to its basic construction blocks, while retaining its original properties and making it “ridiculously economical” to build it back up again, said Bob Allen, senior manager of chemistry and functional materials for IBM’s Almaden research center in Silicon Valley.
The project is in the laboratory on a small scale. Researchers are planning a bigger pilot at the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, home to Saudi Arabia’s nationwide laboratories. Allen said the technology could be commercially available within five years if the pilot goes well.
A serious question will be the price of the technology.
Andrew Williamson, a director with the project capital firm Physic Ventures who has seen IBM’s research, said it could help solve one of the principal challenges facing food and potion companies in designing environmentally friendly packaging. His firm invests money on behalf of two major food and infusion companies.
“These commodity plastics like PET are very low cost,” Williamson said. “What they’ve come up with will have to prove to be competitive on cost, and that remains to be seen.”
























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